And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it Read more…
Read Luke 12:32-40. In fact, just read all of Luke 12 up to verse 40. Sell your possessions, and give alms. (Luke 12:33a) What drives you to do what you do? Why do you get up in the morning and go to work? Why do you get dressed and eat Read more…
Read Colossians 3:1-17. NT Wright reminds us that the Christian hope is not for escaping this world of conflict and getting into a disembodied “heaven,” but for a resurrection of the body into a new heaven and a new earth. While we may be conscious and with Christ between death Read more…
Read Luke 11:1-13 So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. (Luke 11:9) When I was growing up, sitting in a long, boring church service, counting bricks, counting tiles, studying how the Read more…
Read Colossians 1:15-28. I became the servant [of the church] according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. (Colossians 1:25-26) Read more…
Read Luke 10:25-37. You may have heard the story of the Good Samaritan many times, but at least in my case there has never been much sympathy for the priest and the Levite. Yet their passing on the other side of the road is an attempt to obey God’s law. Read more…
A. You know, if you make demands of people that they are not able to live up to, that’s dispiriting. Cruel, really. B. You have achieved all that you should be. You are perfect. A. That’s not what I meant. B. You are not yet perfect, but all that you Read more…
Read Galatians 5:1, 13-25. For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1) Some people these days say that they are spiritual but not religious. I think the sentiment involves a desire not to be constrained to Read more…
As the deer pants for flowing streams What does the inner life look like of one who is making progress in the spiritual life? Psalms 42 and 43 give us a peek. Such a one is consumed by a burning desire for God, a desire so strong that it may Read more…
Excerpts from Tauler’s Sermon 29, Feast of the Blessed Trinity II (Johannes Tauler: Sermons, Paulist Press, 1985) We speak of what we know, and we bear witness to what we have seen. (John 3:11) All of the feasts we have observed throughout the year, whatever they have commemorated, have led Read more…